Attempting to invoke a method on a variable holding null instead of an object instance.
PHP throws an `Uncaught Error` when method chaining or invoking a method `$obj->method()` on a variable `$obj` whose value is `null`.
Database query methods like `User::find($id)` returning `null` when no record matches, followed by calling `$user->getName()`.
1<?php2function findUser(int $id) {3 return null; // User not found4}5 6$user = findUser(42);7$user->sendNotification(); // Fatal error: Call to a member function sendNotification() on null1<?php2function findUser(int $id) {3 return null;4}5 6$user = findUser(42);7 8// Fix 1: Nullsafe operator (?->) in PHP 8.0+9$user?->sendNotification();10 11// Fix 2: Explicit null check12if ($user !== null) {13 $user->sendNotification();14}Simulate standard system builds to trigger compiler trace records and track memory crashes locally.
`findUser(42)` returns `null`. Attempting `$user->sendNotification()` fails because `null` has no methods.